UPFRONT February 2, 2009 Issue

STANDING ON EACH OTHER'S SHOULDERS

INGRID PESCHKE, MANAGING EDITOR

When I think of the women in today's world, I think of a rich landscape of individuals who, each in their own way, are changing the face of humanity. They're raising their children in war zones, starting businesses in developing countries, making policy decisions in government; they're authors and teachers, mothers and leaders. But these women stand on the shoulders of those who forged the path before them—their mothers or grandmothers, and those who fought on the front lines for women's rights. I think of the example of my own mother and grandmother, who both earned college and graduate degrees, and had careers and families, at times when most women focused their attention on the home.

"To be a great man or woman," wrote Mary Baker Eddy, herself a woman who profoundly influenced the world's religious thought, "to have a name whose odor fills the world with its fragrance, is to bear with patience the buffetings of envy or malice even while seeking to raise those barren natures to a capacity for a higher life" (Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896, p. 228).

Several accounts in this week's issue echo that sentiment. As a single mother raising four children in a patriarchal society, Leontine Kunga from the Democratic Republic of Congo prays deeply about true freedom and identity, and finds that change begins with her (see p. 9). Luticia Gutierez Hayes-Allen has the courage, through prayer, to challenge cultural stereotypes in the Philippines and find happiness at home as well as a new career in law (p. 10). And Brazilian Elvira Drummond discovers how practicing Christian Science can overcome gender discrimination, after she becomes the manager of her husband's business (p. 10).

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